For the 2010 “Art of Engeneering” contest, which is run by the company Ferchau Engeneering, I worked on the KommuniKate project together with Paul Kocyla and Anja Hammes.
Kate is a humanoid robot that can hold conversations with people in natural language. She recognizes faces and is connected to online encyclopedias, from which she generates information that she conveys in the form of speech and images. Her appearance is supported by lighting that changes with the situation. In addition, Kate’s activities (looking around, “thinking”, speaking) are visualized by illuminated “synapses” in her head.
Kate thus creates a new kind of communication and takes computers to a new level. People are no longer dealing with a device, but with a “being” that has human traits and yet radiates a certain mystique that is alien to humans.
With KommuniKate we made it to the final of the contest in Berlin as one of the top 20 finalists. This gave us the chance to present KommuniKate for a week as part of a special exhibition at the Deutsches Technikmuseum . Here is a video of the final and the special exhibition.
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